first quarterhttp://www.adweek.com/taxonomy/term/4694/all
enOmnicom's Net Income Grew 13% in Q2http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/omnicoms-net-income-grew-13-q2-159020
Andrew McMains<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/unknown_166.jpeg"> <p>
Omnicom Group generated net income of more than $318 million in the second quarter, up 13 percent from the same period last year.</p>
<p>
Revenue for the quarter grew 6 percent to $3.87 billion, exceeding the estimates of Wall Street analysts, who had projected revenue of $3.74 to $3.82 billion, according to Yahoo Finance.</p>
<p>
On a per share basis, quarterly earnings amounted to $1.23, again exceeding analyst forecasts of $1.14 to $1.18.</p>
<p>
&quot;It was a solid quarter for Omnicom on all fronts,&quot; said CEO John Wren, during a call with analysts.</p>
<p>
The second-quarter results represented a marked improvement from the first quarter, when revenue and net income grew just 3 percent and less than 1 percent, respectively. The <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/q1-earnings-call-omnicoms-wren-addresses-merger-concerns-157172" target="_blank">Q1 numbers </a>were weighed down by $7 million in expenses related to the planned merger with Publicis Groupe that the two companies later <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/publicis-and-omnicom-call-quits-merger-157570" target="_blank">scrapped</a>. Those expenses shrank to just $1.8 million in Q2.</p>
<p>
Omnicom ended the first half with net income of $520 million on revenue of $7.37 billion, up 8 percent and 5 percent, respectively, from the first six months of 2013.</p>
<p>
On an organic basis, revenue grew nearly 6 percent for the quarter and 5 percent for the first half. Regionally, North America led the way, with organic growth of 8 percent for the quarter and 6 percent for the half. No. 2 was Europe, where revenue grew 5 percent organically in each period.</p>
Advertising & Brandingearnings per sharefirst halffirst quarterJohn WrenmergerAndrew McMainsOmnicom Grouporganic growthPublicis Grouperevenuesecond quarterTue, 22 Jul 2014 12:04:55 +0000159020 at http://www.adweek.comLinkedIn Touts Mobile Momentumhttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/linkedin-touts-mobile-momentum-157418
Garett Sloane<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/linkedin-premium-hed-2014.jpg"> <p>
LinkedIn&rsquo;s mobile surge is coming. The company said today that this will be the year half its traffic comes from members accessing the professional social network by smartphones and tablets. In the first quarter of this year, mobile represented 43 percent of traffic, according to LinkedIn&rsquo;s quarterly results announced today.</p>
<p>
&ldquo;In anticipation of our expectation that mobile will exceed half of total traffic later this year, mobilizing our technology infrastructure, engineering team and products remains one of&nbsp;LinkedIn&rsquo;s most important priorities,&rdquo; CEO Jeff Weiner said in a statement to analysts following the release of the quarterly report.</p>
<p>
LinkedIn, while not profitable last quarter, generated $473 million, an increase of 46 percent year over year.</p>
<p>
<a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/linkedin-unveils-sponsored-updates-desktop-and-mobile-151375" target="_blank">Advertising</a> is the smallest portion of LinkedIn revenue, but it is growing as the company focuses on providing content marketing tools for brands to promote on the platforms. Last quarter, it launched a <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/brands-sitting-secret-army-marketers-156608" target="_blank">content marketing score</a> that lets brands track how far their posts reach across the network and how to perform better relative to rivals.</p>
<p>
LinkedIn also <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/linkedin-opens-ad-platform-157212" target="_blank">developed an API</a> for brands and agencies to <a href="http://marketing.linkedin.com/blog/linkedin-launches-sponsored-updates-api-and-partner-programs/" target="_blank">programmatically manage</a> Sponsored Updates campaigns on LinkedIn. Sponsored Updates are LinkedIn&rsquo;s fastest growing ad product that appear in users&rsquo; post feeds.</p>
<p>
Here is a look at LinkedIn&rsquo;s first quarter results:</p>
<ul>
<li>
Advertising, marketing solutions, represented 22 percent of revenue.</li>
<li>
Ad sales reached $102 million, up 36 percent year over year.</li>
<li>
20 percent of ad sales were Sponsored Updates, up from 13 percent in the fourth quarter.</li>
<li>
LinkedIn now has 300 million members and 142 million unique visitors a month.</li>
<li>
Membership grew 36 percent year over year.</li>
<li>
Job services, or talent solutions, represent 58 percent of the business, and grew 50 percent year over year.</li>
<li>
LinkedIn gave revenue guidance of estimating $505 million this quarter.</li>
</ul>
Technologyfirst quarterfirst-quarter resultsLinkedInLinkedIn adsMobileGarett SloaneQuarterly EarningsSocialsponsored adssponsored contentThu, 01 May 2014 21:26:21 +0000157418 at http://www.adweek.comOn Q1 Earnings Call, Omnicom's Wren Addresses Merger Concernshttp://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/q1-earnings-call-omnicoms-wren-addresses-merger-concerns-157172
Noreen O'Leary<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/unknown_123.jpeg"> <p>
While Omnicom reported first-quarter worldwide revenue rose 3 percent, the real news in the company&rsquo;s call with investors was its cautious outlook about the merger prospects with Publicis Groupe.</p>
<p>
Omnicom chief John Wren cited current difficulties in attaining U.K. tax residency for the combined Netherlands-headquartered company, which is a requirement in making the merger tax-free to Omnicom and its shareholders as well as Publicis and its investors. Wren said that should the two companies be unable to get those approvals, it could impact their ability to meet the conditions of the merger deal.</p>
<p>
&ldquo;At this point it is not practical to forecast when the deal will close,&rdquo; Wren said about the transaction, which was unveiled last July and originally scheduled to close early this year before it was pushed back to the third quarter.</p>
<p>
When pressed about the implications of not reaching agreement with U.K. and Dutch tax authorities, Wren underscored: &ldquo;There is no &lsquo;Plan B&rsquo;. These items are required to get to a closing.&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>
China regulatory issues also continue and if the deal does not get approval by June 16th, the companies will have to resubmit documentation and re-start the process. The companies have yet to file regulatory submissions to the SEC or the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM).</p>
<p>
In response to an analyst question, Wren was evasive about management roles in the combined company, which is said to be another sticking point between Omnicom and Publicis executives in getting the deal done.</p>
<p>
Last week Publicis Groupe CEO Maurice L&eacute;vy, after releasing his company&#39;s first-quarter results, was not as specific about pending issues but nonetheless <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/publicis-groupe-posts-3-percent-organic-growth-q1-157080" target="_blank">raised</a> doubts as well. In an interview, L&eacute;vy said that while he doesn&rsquo;t believe there is &ldquo;any reason why the merger may not happen,&rdquo; if it didn&rsquo;t come to fruition, Publicis Groupe is well-positioned to stand alone.</p>
<p>
In the first quarter, Omnicom said it took another $7 million in charges related to the merger following the <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/omnicom-q4-net-declines-21-155648" target="_blank">pre-tax charge</a> of $41.4 million the holding company registered in 2013 results.</p>
<p>
Omnicom&rsquo;s first-quarter domestic revenue climbed 4 percent to $1.9 billion while international revenue increased nearly 2 percent to $1.6 billion. Organic revenue rose more than 4 percent</p>
<p>
On a geographic basis, organic revenue increased almost 5 percent in North America; 2 percent in Europe; nearly 6 percent in Asia Pacific; 7 percent in Latin America and almost 7 percent in Africa and the Middle East. Across business practices, advertising rose 5 percent; CRM increased 4 percent; public relations increased 1 percent and specialty communications climbed 5 percent.</p>
<p>
Wren said that despite possible distractions related to the Publicis merger Omnicom remains focused on its business goals and expects to meet its full-year goal of 4 percent organic growth in 2014.</p>
Advertising & BrandingEarningsfirst quarterHolding CompaniesJohn WrenmergerNoreen O'LearyPublicis Grouperevenuetax issuesTue, 22 Apr 2014 14:35:34 +0000157172 at http://www.adweek.comIPG Grows Revenue but Loses Money in Q1http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/ipg-grows-revenue-loses-money-q1-157168
Andrew McMains<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/unknown_122.jpeg"> <p>
Interpublic Group today reported a net loss of nearly $21 million in the first quarter of the year, despite solid revenue growth of 6 percent.</p>
<p>
The company ended the quarter with $1.64 billion in revenue, up from $1.54 billion in the same period last year. On an organic basis, revenue grew nearly 7 percent, including about 5 percent in the U.S. and more than 9 percent outside the U.S.</p>
<p>
Quarterly expenses related to salaries, however, rose 5 percent to $1.19 billion, according to the company.</p>
<p>
In a statement, IPG CEO Michael Roth touted the organic increases, noting &quot;significant growth&quot; in Latin America and Asia and &quot;strength&quot; in the U.S.</p>
<p>
Roth also reasserted the company&#39;s pledge to achieve 3 percent to 4 percent organic growth and an operating margin of at least 10.3 percent for the year.</p>
<p>
The Q1 loss, which equated to 5 cents per share of company stock, represented a significant improvement from the same period last year. In the first three months of 2013, IPG withstood a net loss of $59.2 million, or 14 cents per share.</p>
Advertising & Brandingfinancial resultsfirst quarterInterpublic GroupMichael Rothnet lossAndrew McMainsorganic growthrevenueTue, 22 Apr 2014 12:35:34 +0000157168 at http://www.adweek.comPublicis Groupe Posts 3% Organic Growth in Q1http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/publicis-groupe-posts-3-percent-organic-growth-q1-157080
Noreen O'Leary<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/maurice-levy-hed-2013_1.jpg"> <p>
Revenue at Publicis Groupe, driven largely by digital operations, rose more than 3 percent organically in the first quarter, a &ldquo;marked improvement&rdquo; from the <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/organic-growth-flattens-out-publicis-groupe-155705" target="_blank">fourth quarter</a> when it was flat, the French holding company said today.</p>
<p>
Revenue from digital activities, which now account for nearly 41 percent of all revenue, climbed 10 percent.</p>
<p>
First-quarter revenue rose to $2.2 billion, up 2 percent from the same period last year. Results were hurt by exchange rates that cost Publicis $93 million Euros or 4 percent. Without the exchange-rate impact, revenue growth was nearly 7 percent.<br />
<br />
Separately, in a Euro Business Media <a href="http://www.eurobusinessmedia.com/ceo-direct/publicis-groupe/interview-with-ceo-maurice-levy-q1-2014-revenue,2014-04-16,1172?utm_source=ceo-direct&amp;utm_medium=bw" target="_blank">interview</a> about the results, Publicis chief Maurice L&eacute;vy shrugged off speculation the company&rsquo;s merger with Omnicom Group might fall apart even as he left open the door that could be a possibility. On April 11, J.P. Morgan analyst Alexia Quadrani issued a first-quarter agency results preview where she said &quot;OMC/PUB merger outlook growing more uncertain following several delays, but we see positives in either scenario.&quot;</p>
<p>
Nine months after the announcement about Publicis and Omnicom&#39;s merger, its closing is now delayed until the third quarter, slowed by waiting for regulatory approvals in China, tax and domicile issues and, reportedly, disagreements between L&eacute;vy and Omnicom CEO John Wren about who will fill top management roles of the joint entity. The deal was originally expected to close early this year.</p>
<p>
In the EBM interview, L&eacute;vy said that while he doesn&rsquo;t believe there is &ldquo;any reason why the merger may not happen,&rdquo; if it didn&rsquo;t come to fruition, Publicis Groupe is well-positioned to stand alone.</p>
<p>
&ldquo;However, as we are in a &lsquo;What if?&rsquo; situation, we should not forget that last year we have announced a strategy which is extremely clear. So, Publicis is today the best-positioned group, [better] than any of our competitors, with an extremely strong position in the digital world, extremely strong position in e-commerce and the most advanced group in the digital world. So, all this is making us a formidable competitor.&quot;</p>
<p>
He added: &ldquo;This being said, I feel extremely confident with the merger. I don&#39;t see any reason why this may not happen. But, as you say, &lsquo;What if?&rsquo; &lsquo;What if?&rsquo; We are serene and we have a very solid balance sheet, robust. If we need to make some financial movement, share buy-backs or whatever, we have the capabilities. If we need to make some investment, acquiring operations, we have the capabilities and on top of this, I am sure that we will grow faster than the market and deliver the best margin in the industry. So &lsquo;What if?&rsquo; Life is good.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>
<p>
Publicis said it spent $52 million on merger-related expenses in 2013; Omnicom took a $41.4 million pre-tax charge last year for professional fees concerning the merger.&nbsp;</p>
<p>
While digital led first-quarter results at Publicis Groupe, revenue from analog operations declined about 1 percent. The company said the Eurozone remains feeble, despite some improvement in Germany and the U.K. The U.S., where revenue rose more than 4 percent, was buoyed by the economy&rsquo;s upturn and the company&#39;s share of digital operations there. Certain emerging markets remain challenging: Revenue in China was flat at 0.2 percent, although better than the 11 percent decline in the fourth quarter; India was down 18 percent.</p>
<p>
Publicis Groupe is maintaining its full-year growth potential of more than 4 percent, although it said growth in the second half will not be as strong as in the first because of higher 2013 comparisons.</p>
Advertising & BrandingDigitalfirst quarterMaurice LévymergerOmnicom GroupNoreen O'LearyPublicis GrouperevenueThu, 17 Apr 2014 13:34:54 +0000157080 at http://www.adweek.comGoogle's Mobile 'Problem' Squeezes Pricing in First Quarterhttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/googles-mobile-problem-squeezes-pricing-first-quarter-157072
Garett Sloane<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/google-web-hed-2013_0.jpg"> <p>
Google topped $15 billion in first quarter revenue but still <a href="http://investor.google.com/earnings/2014/Q1_google_earnings.html" target="_blank">reported</a> lower costs per click while the industry shifts to <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/did-google-ceo-larry-page-just-handle-his-last-wall-street-call-153214" target="_blank">less expensive mobile ads</a>. Google&rsquo;s quarterly results also fell short of Wall Street estimates, sending the newly split stock down about 2.6 percent to $542 a share in after-hours trading.</p>
<p>
&ldquo;Google&rsquo;s got a mobile problem just like a lot of companies,&rdquo; said Colin Gillis, senior technology analyst with BGC Partners.</p>
<p>
Google told analysts on its earnings call that it expects mobile pricing will eventually surpass desktop. The search giant is working to prove that mobile clicks are more valuable.</p>
<p>
Indeed, Google and data tracking firms DataLogix and Acxiom are testing how to monitor consumer behavior all the way from ad views to the cash register, The Wall Street Journal <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-tracking-in-store-purchases-2014-4" target="_blank">reported</a>. Google also is delivering new audience measurements to advertisers in areas like video display, thanks to deals with Nielsen and comScore.</p>
<p>
More effective measuring tools like these are key to driving the price of clicks, analysts said.</p>
<p>
Here is a look at the numbers for the first quarter ending March:</p>
<ul>
<li>
$15.4 billion in total revenue represented an increase of 19 percent from the year before.</li>
<li>
Google sites ad revenue reached $10.5 billion, up 21 percent from the year before.</li>
<li>
Network revenue, comprised of partner sites, of $3.4 billion was up 4 percent year-over-year.</li>
<li>
$3.45 billion in profits, up $3.35 billion from a year ago.</li>
<li>
Paid clicks were up 1 percent versus Q4 2013 and improved 26 percent year-over-year.</li>
<li>
Cost per click was down 9 percent year-over-year and flat sequentially.</li>
</ul>
TechnologyAcxiomAd sales revenueBGC PartnersColin GilliscomScoreGarett SloaneDataDatalogixfinancial resultsfirst quarterfirst-quarter resultsGoogleGoogleMobileMobileNielsenQuarterly Earningsrevenuerevenue growthSearchSearchTech StocksWed, 16 Apr 2014 23:08:33 +0000157072 at http://www.adweek.comFacebook Ad Prices Are Rising Amid Organic Reach Squeezehttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/facebook-ad-prices-are-rising-amid-organic-reach-squeeze-156888
Garett Sloane<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/facebook-app-iphone-hed-2013_0.jpg"> <p>
It turns out that, far from <a href="http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/facebook-exec-snarkily-confirms-brands-big-fear-their-content-isnt-important-156662" target="_blank">fleeing Facebook</a>, brands are willing to pay more to advertise on the social network after their pages started <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/facebook-reportedly-slashing-organic-reach-pages-156417" target="_blank">reaching fewer fans </a>with unpaid posts. Indeed, Facebook ad prices have increased following the recent outcry over diminished &ldquo;organic reach,&rdquo; according to industry analysts and marketing experts.</p>
<p>
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re seeing pricing from Q4 [2013] to Q1 up 10 percent across the board,&rdquo; said Dan Slagen, svp of marketing at Nanigans, a Facebook partner that helps companies execute social ad strategies. Slagen held a call with investors Tuesday hosted by analyst Robert Peck of SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.</p>
<p>
Facebook sales had been tracking poorly at the start of Q1, but Peck said that ad revenue could end up flat compared to Q4, which would be a triumph of sorts&mdash;maintaining sales from the super-charged holidays. Increased ad prices and level spending indicate there were fewer but higher value impressions, Peck said.</p>
<p>
Ad prices were trending up, in part because Facebook has not increased the frequency of ads. Facebook said in Q3 that it would keep ad inventory level at about 5 percent of all posts in the News Feed, the most coveted space for advertisers.</p>
<p>
News Feed also is where brands saw lower organic exposure as Facebook prioritized personal news in users&rsquo; streams like weddings and births over <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/facebook-algorithm-tweaks-hurt-viral-sites-more-other-publishers-156533" target="_blank">click-inducing viral content</a> or unpaid messages from big-name sponsors.</p>
<p>
There has been a steady drop in how far posts from brand pages circulate without a paid strategy. Brands have seen their posts reach less than 5 percent of fans, and in some cases approaching 0 percent, when they used to see 25 percent reach or more.</p>
<p>
Facebook says the diminished exposure is simply a reality of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/business/news/What-Increased-Content-Sharing-Means-for-Businesses/" target="_blank">ever increasing content competition.</a> That&rsquo;s small comfort for companies that invested heavily in promoting Facebook pages, accruing Likes and fans with hopes of communicating freely with those audiences.</p>
<p>
In December, when Facebook acknowledged that brands would connect with less of an audience on unpaid posts, many reconsidered their strategies on the platform, Peck said.</p>
<p>
&ldquo;They were not leaving Facebook. Some were disgruntled, but more were just trying to read through the data and see what sort of reach they were losing organically and see if they want to therefore spend to offset that,&rdquo; Peck said.</p>
<p>
However, these stalled ad budgets accelerated toward the end of Q1 when marketers realized they need Facebook-level returns to meet goals, Peck said.</p>
<p>
&ldquo;What could have been an &lsquo;organic&rsquo; hindrance to the quarter now looks beneficial to the quarter,&rdquo; Peck said.&nbsp;The four times return on investment completely justified more spending for advertisers, he added.</p>
<p>
&ldquo;As advertisers get into the latter half of Q1, if they&rsquo;re behind the ball not meeting metrics, then it&#39;s time to shift spend and focus on what&rsquo;s working,&rdquo; Slagen said.</p>
<p>
Nanigans, which can project the strength of Facebook sales based on its clients&rsquo; spending habits, said advertising revenue looks to be flat compared to last quarter, when Facebook ads generated $2.3 billion.</p>
<p>
Facebook said it doesn&rsquo;t comment on ad pricing outside of quarterly reports, the next of which is set for later this month.</p>
<p>
Realizing the need to pay to play, more advertisers are likely driving up prices in Facebook auctions to buy targeted audiences, according to industry watchers.</p>
<p>
Anna O&#39;Brien, head of strategy at social data firm Sprinklr, said marketers will get creative to reach their desired audiences and that could increase prices on what she called &ldquo;relational terms.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
Auctions for obviously in-demand audiences already were competitive, but now advertisers need to get more creative bidding on less expensive terms that reach the same desired set, O&#39;Brien said. &quot;It could drive up the price of terms that maybe weren&#39;t as expensive previously&mdash;relational terms,&quot; she said.</p>
<p>
Adobe said it also has seen ad rates rising on Facebook, but said better targeting leading to higher click-through rates is the cause&mdash;not diminished organic reach. Adobe said the cost-per-click for social media is &quot;still far below other vehicles like search.&quot;</p>
<p>
&quot;Social media is still a bargain in every sense for brand marketers so increases in ad rates will come from new dollars flowing in,&rdquo; said Tamara Gaffney, principal analyst at Adobe Digital Index.</p>
TechnologyBrandsBrands As Publisherscontent marketingDataFacebookGarett SloaneFacebook adsFacebook advertisingfirst quarterMobileNanigansorganic marketingpaid contentpricingSocialSprinklrSunTrustWed, 09 Apr 2014 00:44:17 +0000156888 at http://www.adweek.comWPP's Revenue Grew Modestly in Q1http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/wpps-revenue-grew-modestly-q1-148935
Andrew McMains<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/columns/sorrell-2011.jpg"> <p>
WPP Group, like many of its peers, achieved modest revenue growth in the first quarter of the year, though the percentage was near the top of the class.</p>
<p>
In U.S. dollars, revenue grew 4 percent to $3.91 billion compared to the same period last year, WPP reported today. In comparison, Interpublic Group&rsquo;s Q1 revenue grew 2 percent, while Omnicom&rsquo;s climbed 3 percent.</p>
<p>
WPP, whose global agencies include Ogilvy &amp; Mather, JWT, Young &amp; Rubicam and Mindshare, did not report net income, but said first-quarter profits exceeded budget projections.</p>
<p>
On an organic basis, WPP&rsquo;s revenue grew more than 2 percent&mdash;again, in range of competitors.</p>
<p>
Collectively, the Q1 financial results of WPP, <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/omnicoms-net-income-flattens-q1-148663 " target="_blank">Omnicom</a>, <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/first-quarter-revenue-climbs-ipg-148694 " target="_blank">Interpublic</a> and <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/publicis-groupe-posts-lower-expected-growth-148591" target="_blank">Publicis Groupe</a> present a picture of an industry incrementally rebounding from a stubborn recession. No giant leaps, but rather low single-digit percentage growth. And that trend is expected to continue as the year unfolds.</p>
<p>
&nbsp;</p>
Advertising & Brandingfirst quarterInterpublicOmnicomorganic revenuePublicis GroupeAndrew McMainsWPP GroupFri, 26 Apr 2013 16:09:39 +0000148935 at http://www.adweek.comFirst-Quarter Revenue Climbs at IPGhttp://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/first-quarter-revenue-climbs-ipg-148694
Noreen O'Leary<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/michael-roth-ipg-hed-2012.jpg"> <p>
Interpublic executives sounded an optimistic note in <a href="http://investors.interpublic.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=87867&amp;p=irol-newsArticle&amp;ID=1808618&amp;highlight=" target="_blank">releasing </a>first-quarter results today, noting recent new business wins at its largest operating unit McCann Worldgroup and saying the company is on the way to meeting full-year revenue growth targets of 2-3 percent.</p>
<p>
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a solid beginning to 2013,&rdquo; chief executive Michael Roth told financial analysts. &ldquo;At this point this year versus last year, we&rsquo;re in a much better position.&rdquo;</p>
<div class="news-article-image">
<img alt="" class="imagecache-news-article-image" src="/files/imagecache/news-article-image/news_article/michael-roth-ipg-hed-2012.jpg" />
<p class="caption">
Michael Roth</p>
</div>
<p>
But there was little doubt that head winds from 2012 account losses at two of its largest agency networks, McCann Erickson and Draftfcb, continued to cycle through results. Organic revenue rose more than 2 percent <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/ipg-reports-net-loss-first-quarter-139857" target="_blank">compared </a>to a 3 percent increase in the year-earlier period.</p>
<p>
While overall revenue in the quarter rose 2 percent to $1.54 billion, losses broadened to $42.4 million, compared with a loss of $39.4 million in the 2012 quarter. (In addition to account losses, historically, Q1 is challenging for Interpublic as it is the smallest revenue generator of the year, while overhead costs remain consistent with other quarters.)</p>
<p>
A more detailed look at the quarter&rsquo;s results put the impact of those 2012 U.S. account losses into clearer perspective. International organic growth, led by Latin America, the U.K. and Middle East, rose about 5 percent while there was no growth in the U.S. Integrated agency networks like McCann, Draftfcb and Lowe registered no organic growth while the company&rsquo;s PR and marketing services operations realized a 14 percent increase. Interpublic CFO Frank Mergenthaler said the company expects the effect of those 2012 agency account losses to end midyear.</p>
<p>
Roth addressed the recent top management changes at his agencies, particularly at McCann Worldgroup, where CMG chief <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/nick-brien-out-mccann-worldgroup-ceo-updated-145167" target="_blank">Harris Diamond replaced Nick Brien</a> in November. Citing wins like the consolidation of Chevrolet business at McCann and the addition of the U.S. Postal Service business, he said there is &ldquo;demonstrable progress&rdquo; underway. (While the USPS win came out of the hide of other IPG agencies, Roth used it as an example of growing momentum at McCann.) In discussing McCann, the Interpublic chief said &ldquo;morale is much higher&rdquo; and &ldquo;talent is stronger&rdquo; at the agency.</p>
<p>
Roth also voiced confidence in the recent selection of Young &amp; Rubicam exec Carter Murray to lead Draftfcb, while acknowledging the <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/young-rubicam-refuses-let-carter-murray-out-his-contract-148436" target="_blank">contractual delay</a> in Murray actually assuming it. At Lowe, Roth noted &ldquo;good, solid results&rdquo; in Q1, though he is looking for greater margin improvement there.</p>
<p>
&nbsp;</p>
Advertising & BrandingCarter MurrayDraftfcbfinancial resultsfirst quarterHarris DiamondNoreen O'LearyLoweMccann EricksonMcCann Worldgroup,Michael Rothorganic revenueFri, 19 Apr 2013 15:02:51 +0000148694 at http://www.adweek.comOmnicom's Net Income Flattens in Q1http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/omnicoms-net-income-flattens-q1-148663
Andrew McMains<p>
Revenue grew modestly and net income was flattish for Omnicom Group in the first quarter of the year in <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/publicis-groupe-posts-lower-expected-growth-148591" target="_blank">yet another sign</a> that the ad marketplace remains difficult.</p>
<p>
Omnicom posted net income of $199.7 million in Q1, compared to $200.1 million in the same period last year. Revenue for the quarter grew just 3 percent to $3.39 million.</p>
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Still, the company managed to deliver earnings per share of 76 cents&mdash;up from 72 cents in the year-ago period and a penny more than Wall Street analysts had expected. The revenue result was in line with analysts&rsquo; projections.</p>
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Domestically, revenue grew more than 4 percent, while internationally, the increase was merely 1 percent, dragged down by a decline in most of Europe. In the U.K., however, revenue grew about 6 percent.</p>
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By marketer category, Omnicom, parent to agencies such as BBDO, DDB and TBWA, experienced revenue declines in financial services (down 5 percent) and automotive (down less than 1 percent).</p>
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The significant gains came in consumer products (up 12 percent), technology (up 7 percent), pharmaceuticals and healthcare (up 6 percent) and travel and entertainment (also up 6 percent). Other categories, such as telecommunications and food and beverage, were relatively flat.</p>
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In mid-morning trading, Omnicom&#39;s share price dipped nearly $1 below yesterday&#39;s closing price $59.26, according to Yahoo Finance. That&#39;s still near the stock&#39;s 52-week high of $60.23, however.</p>
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Advertising & BrandingAutomotiveBbdoDdbEarningsFinancial ServicesAndrew McMainsnet incomeOmnicom GrouprevenueTbwaThu, 18 Apr 2013 14:29:19 +0000148663 at http://www.adweek.comYahoo Ad Revenue Slides Amid Mobile Gap, Reduced Inventoryhttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/yahoo-ad-revenue-slides-amid-mobile-gap-reduced-inventory-148633
Tim Peterson<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/tt-marissa-mayer-hed-2013.jpg"> <p>
Companies typically open their quarterly earnings calls with&nbsp;the disclaimer that current revenue and performance numbers&nbsp;do not necessarily&nbsp;reflect future results. Yahoo may have wanted to repeat that line when it&nbsp;began its first-quarter earnings call on Tuesday, though the sentiment echoed throughout the call.</p>
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In Marissa Mayer&rsquo;s second full quarter as CEO, the&nbsp;company&#39;s quarterly revenue&nbsp;slid 7&nbsp;percent from the year-earlier period&mdash;to $1.14 billion. Yahoo also failed to exceed analysts&rsquo; estimates when subtracting how much it cost Yahoo to get people to check out their properties. More specifically, Yahoo&rsquo;s two core revenue streams&mdash;display and search advertising&mdash;each trailed their Q1 2012 marks.</p>
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Marissa Mayer</p>
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Revenue from display advertising fell 11 percent&nbsp;to $455 million, sunk by a 7 percent decline in the number of ads sold (marking the seventh consecutive quarter of year-over-year declines) and a 2 percent drop in the price per ad. Yahoo CFO Ken Goldman cited reduced supply as the &ldquo;main driver&rdquo; behind the declines. In addition to intentional inventory reductions, Mayer noted &quot;continued traffic trends that are declining.&quot;&nbsp;But, she added, &quot;We are seeing a slowing in that trend.&rdquo;</p>
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Yahoo doesn&rsquo;t disclose traffic numbers&nbsp;to the extent that it did&nbsp;in pre-Mayer days,&nbsp;but it appears that one type of traffic growth Yahoo is seeing isn&rsquo;t helping offset the display revenue declines.</p>
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As with <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/googles-q3-earnings-report-leaks-early-144561" target="_blank">Google</a> and <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/facebook-blames-ad-slowdown-mobile-140205" target="_blank">Facebook</a>&nbsp;previously, Mayer said Yahoo&rsquo;s ad revenues suffered from a rise in consumers&nbsp;accessing Yahoo properties from their mobile devices, which fetch lower ad rates than their desktop counterparts. Yahoo closed last year&nbsp;with an&nbsp;average of&nbsp;200 million monthly mobile unique visitors, and that number shot up to 300 million monthly uniques in Q1, according to Mayer. At the same time, mobile has been at the forefront of the CEO&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/sum-yahoos-acqui-hires-could-be-new-mobile-homepage-148153" target="_blank">acquisition spree</a>.</p>
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Describing the mobile monetization gap as a &ldquo;short-term trend,&rdquo; Mayer&nbsp;added that&nbsp;&ldquo;as we experiment in mobile monetization, we&rsquo;re confident the pricing gap...will close.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
Like display, Yahoo&rsquo;s search advertising business had a rough quarter. While Yahoo recorded 16 percent more paid clicks than Q1 2012, the price of each click dipped by 7 percent as&nbsp;search ad revenue&nbsp;declined 10 percent to $425 million.</p>
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Again, mobile&nbsp;contributed to&nbsp;the price drop, but Mayer painted Yahoo&rsquo;s search business in positive light. Yahoo has experimented with how it presents search ads to users, which has boosted click volume. So,&nbsp;as pricing normalizes, revenue&nbsp;may increase. &ldquo;I anticipate we&rsquo;ll see some growth already [in search revenue] in the second half of this year,&rdquo; Mayer said.</p>
<p>
Like most of Silicon Valley, Mayer takes a Field of Dreams approach to advertising revenue: Build great products and marketers will come. She broke down that philosophy into what she&nbsp;described as&nbsp;a &ldquo;chain reaction.&rdquo; Establish a base of&nbsp;employees who will build great products that will gain high adoption and engagement from users, which in turn will attract advertising spend and generate more revenue.</p>
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The first step, or &ldquo;sprint&rdquo;&nbsp;as Mayer called it, centered on talent&mdash;those acqui-hires and the Yahoo alumni that accounted for 14 percent of all new hires in Q1. &ldquo;Now our focus will shift to the next sprint, which is all about building excellent products,&rdquo; Mayer said.</p>
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Once more mobile&nbsp;will be central to&nbsp;the next phase, and Mayer related an experiment she conducted to identify the most popular mobile apps&nbsp;among employees beyond carrier-operated ones like calling and text messaging.</p>
<p>
Email apps topped the list,&nbsp;followed by those related to&nbsp;weather, news, sports, games, photos, group messaging and finance. That&rsquo;s &ldquo;almost an exact correlation to Yahoo&rsquo;s business and core product line,&rdquo; Mayer said. Yahoo already has revamped its email and photo apps through the redesigns of Yahoo Mail and Flickr and will extend that make-over to other products.</p>
TechnologyDisplay advertisingEarningsfirst quarterInternet searchMarissa MayerTim PetersonMobileMobile advertisingOnline advertisingrevenueYahooWed, 17 Apr 2013 00:46:28 +0000148633 at http://www.adweek.comIPG Reports Net Loss in First Quarterhttp://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/ipg-reports-net-loss-first-quarter-139857
Andrew McMains<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/michael-roth-ipg-hed-2012.jpg"> <p>
Despite a revenue gain, Interpublic Group today reported a net loss for the first quarter of the year.</p>
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Historically, Q1 is a challenging quarter for the company, given that its revenue total is typically smaller than in other quarters and expenses remain consistent throughout the year, according to IPG.</p>
<p>
In this year&#39;s first three months, the net loss totaled $45.9 million&mdash;a slight improvement from <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/ipg-reports-48-million-loss-q1-131110" target="_blank">last year&#39;s Q1 net loss of $48.1 million</a>.</p>
<p>
The quarterly losses were much bigger in prior years.&nbsp;In the first quarters of 2010 and 2009, for example, the net losses totaled $71.5 million and $73.9 million, respectively.</p>
<p>
Revenue in this year&#39;s first quarter grew 2 percent to $1.5 billion. On an organic basis, revenue climbed nearly 3 percent.</p>
<p>
During an hour-long conference call with industry analysts, IPG CEO Michael Roth said the company remained on track to meet its year-end goals of improving its operating margin by 50 basis points and delivering 3 percent organic growth.</p>
<p>
Significant losses in 2011, including <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/sc-johnsons-decision-reflects-conflict-avoidance-133768" target="_blank">S.C. Johnson&#39;s global business </a>and Microsoft&#39;s North American media account, impacted the Q1 revenue total, according to Roth.</p>
<p>
S.C. Johnson was among Draftfcb&#39;s largest accounts and supplied $50 million-$60 million in revenue to the shop. Sister shops Initiative, R/GA and Mullen also handled pieces of the business.</p>
<p>
Universal McCann lost the Microsoft account to Publicis Groupe&#39;s Starcom MediaVest after a review.</p>
<p>
Given such headwinds, Roth is pleased that the company still grew revenue organically, albeit at a lower rate than in Q1 2011, when organic revenue shot up 9 percent.</p>
<p>
&quot;We know that Q1 is our smallest revenue period seasonally,&quot; Roth said. &quot;And, while the headwinds we are facing will be less pronounced in the second half of the year, we have consistently cautioned against putting too much weight on a single quarter&#39;s results.&quot;</p>
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Advertising & Brandingfirst quarterInterpublic GroupMichael Rothnet lossrevenueThu, 26 Apr 2012 12:45:37 +0000139857 at http://www.adweek.com